The tourism employers are asking the government for a state-level royal decree limiting this “crowded” phenomenon that causes a “very bad image” of the sector
The increase in tourist pressure in the last decade in Spain is due to the “crowded and uncontrolled” growth of housing for tourist use. The ReviTUR report by Exceltur, the employers’ organization of tourism, shows that the number of places has doubled in ten years: from 346,921 places in all types of accommodation in the 20 main Spanish cities in 2010, it has risen to 788,136 places in 2019.
As a result, 6% of the total housing package has been withdrawn from these most attractive tourist neighbourhoods, which means that in the six cities analyzed (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Málaga, Valencia and San Sebastián) the output of 60,375 homes in total.
And the lower the supply, the higher the prices. The study shows that purchase prices of homes in these areas with the highest deployment of housing for tourism use increased by an average of 9.1% between 2010 and 2019, compared to the slight 0.5% of all non-tourist neighborhoods in the same region. towns. Consequently, the population of these areas fell by almost 3% over the same period, according to the census.
For this reason, they demand that the government establish a legal framework for tourist housing – which they have specified in the form of a royal decree – which, without intruding on regional powers or promoting prohibition, helps communities and town halls to regulations and avoid this “uncontrolled” growth.
José Luis Zoreda, vice president of Exceltur, assured a press conference that the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Reyes Maroto, was “very receptive” to his proposal after several meetings between the employers and the ministry. “The minister understands the problem and told us it had to be addressed at a cross-cutting level within the government,” Zoreda said.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
